Melek Ahmed Pasha

Early years

He was of Abkhaz (or Abazin) origin. According to one source, his father was a sea captain named Pervane. During the reign of Murad IV, he was appointed as the governor of Diyarbakır. During Ibrahim's reign, he was appointed to the governorships of Erzurum, Mosul, Aleppo and Damascus. In 1644, he married to Kaya Sultan, Murad's daughter, and gained the title damat (groom). But all of the provinces (even Erzurum a part of Turkey) he was assigned, were quite far from Istanbul, the capital, and during most of his assignments, his wife stayed in Istanbul. During the reign of Mehmed IV, he finally returned to Istanbul as a vizier. But in 1650, to the dismay of his wife, he was appointed as the governor of Baghdad, another post far from Istanbul. Kaya Sultan tried to persuade the queen regent to revoke the decision. But she couldn't succeed, a sign of the chaos in Ottoman palace. Nevertheless, before Melek Ahmed left Istanbul, the Grand Vizier Kara Murat Pasha resigned, complaining of the intrigues of the palace people. The queen regent offered the post to Melek Ahmed, who accepted the offer on the condition that the palace people would not meddle with the governance of the state on 5 August 1650.

He was the brother-in-law of the Haydarzade Mehmed Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Egypt from 1646 to 1647, who married his sister.

Grand Vizier

When Melek Ahmed took office, he realized that the empire was almost bankrupt. The Cretan War (1645–1669) was very costly, and tax revenues from Anatolia were much less than the expected amount because of the Jelali revolts. He attempted to balance the budget, but without a real knowledge of financial affairs, his economic measures worsened the economy instead of improving it. Among his measures was the debasing of coinage by reducing the gold content. This caused reactions among both the merchants and the soldiers, whose salaries were paid by the new coins. The sultan was forced to relieve him of his post on 22 August 1651.

Later years

After 1651, he was again assigned as a provincial governor, but this time in Silistra (now in Bulgaria), much closer to capital. Soon, he was able to return to Istanbul. In 1654, Mustafa İbşir Pasha had been appointed as the Grand Vizier, but delayed his arrival in Istanbul. During this period, Melek Ahmed functioned as his deputy. This aroused İbşir Pasha's suspicions, and Melek Ahmed was exiled to Van and Malkara. However, after İbşir Pasha was deposed, Melek Ahmed Pasha was able to regain his former titles. After working in some provinces in the European part of the empire, he was married for a second time to Fatma Sultan (the daughter of the late sultan Ahmed I) in 1662. According to Evliya Çelebi, the marriage was unhappy and forced upon both parties; Fatma Sultan reportedly threatened Melek Ahmed Pasha with divorce and the withdrawal of her dowry (which was reportedly worth an entire year's tax revenue from the Egypt Eyalet).

Melek Ahmed Pasha died in 1662, only months after marrying Fatma Sultan.

Aftermath

In the Ottoman Empire, the minting of devalued coinage continued after 1651 and provided the major reason for a wide-scale rebellion, the Çınar Incident, in 1656.

Evliya Çelebi and Melek Ahmed Pasha

Although not a particularly successful Grand Vizier, details about both Melek Ahmed Pasa and his wife Kaya Sultan (as well as his later marriage to Fatma Sultan) are well known because of Evliya Çelebi's books. Evliya Çelebi was one of the most important Turkish travel writers of his time, and his mother was the milk-sister of Melek Ahmed Pasha, and Evliya Çelebi used this opportunity to travel with Melek Ahmed Pasha.